What's cooking: “I'm not afraid to try anything,” says Sue, who cooks everything from duck — something she learned from her Hungarian grandmother — to game meat to vegetables from the couple's two gardens. Once a week, she throws together what she calls “clean-the-fridge soup” for dinner.

At Christmastime, Sue's the designated family baker, filling requests for goodies such as chocolate refrigerator cookies, sugar cookies filled with her homemade jam, date bars and Pumpkin Fig Loaf to fill more than two dozen boxes. Using homegrown fruit and vegetables, Sue cans pickles, peppers and jam.

When members of the couple's combined families — a total of six children, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren — come together for Christmas dinner, the crowd of about 25 will feast on roast beef, ham, Yorkshire pudding and broccoli and greens from the garden.

Fresh spin: The garden harvest sends Sue to her cookbook collection to find new uses for vegetables. With a bounty of eggplant this summer, she tried a variety of Mediterranean-inspired eggplant dishes, including briam, a Greek vegetable stew infused with the nutty flavor of cannellini beans.

In this kitchen: As Jim headed out of town in the summer of 2008, he gave Sue the green light on remodeling the kitchen of the house she has lived in 32 years. When he returned, she had started the demolition. The two of them did the bulk of the work and finished in about four months.

The space: The kitchen in the Northwest Side house, built in the early 1960s, grew from its original 9 by 13 feet to 9 by 25 feet in a remodel that made the former breakfast area part of the kitchen.

On the surfaces: Sleek maple-finish cabinets replaced darker wood. Though Sue had wanted solid wood, Jim convinced her she could get the smooth finish she wanted with MDF. She shopped online for hardware to complement stainless pulls on the built-in refrigerator.

The speckled finish of synthetic granite counters adds a touch of color without overwhelming the space. Because they were working with a variety of wall surfaces, they opted for the same manufactured granite on the backsplashes.

They kept the light brown tile floor Sue had laid years earlier in place of glued-down carpet. The dusty chore of updating porous grout with stain-free epoxy was worthwhile for easier maintenance, she says.

Why it works: Having the space to organize ingredients and utensils has made cooking even more pleasurable for Sue. She transformed a desk area at the end of the kitchen into a baking center, and shallow shelves there and on pantry doors keep spices in order.

Additional counter space in the former breakfast nook is ideal for serving buffet-style for guests.

Sue chose a six-burner Wolf cooktop and Wolf ovens. “I waited 30 years for this kitchen. I was going to get what I wanted,” she says.

Know of a good cook with a great kitchen? Email suggestions for Cooks & Cocinas to Home & Garden Editor Tracy Hobson Lehmann, tlehmann@express-news.net.